Meltdown
The Meltdown heist is a free heist for PAYDAY 2, released on May 7th 2015 as part of Update #67. Being the sixth contract by Vlad, it involves the crew attacking the same Murkywater warehouse they broke into during Shadow Raid, to secure several nuclear warheads. Stealth is not an option this time around. Overview The heist involves the player crew assaulting the same Murkywater depot featured in Shadow Raid, though this time in broad daylight and without any opportunity to pre-plan or stealth. The targets of this job are the many nuclear warheads secured in a vault hidden inside one of the Murkywater shipping containers scattered around the compound. The basic looting procedure is largely similar to Shadow Raid, with the crew having to obtain several crowbars placed randomly around the map to crack open the lootable shipping crates and bag the rest of the loot. There are several forklifts parked at the yard and inside the warehouse that players can commandeer to quickly move up to three bags at a time from point to point, in order to more easily secure all available loot. There is even a muscle car hidden somewhere in the area that they can use to quicken their escape by putting up to four bags in the trunk, and moving up to eight times as fast as a forklift. Objectives # Find the Vault inside a Murkywater container # Find a crowbar # Overheat the vault by jamming the ventilation ## (Optional) Jam more ventilators # Secure all 6 Warheads (8 on Overkill+) ## (Optional) Secure additional loot # Escape Assets Walkthrough Starting on an adjacent rooftop, the alarm will sound as soon as players approach the zip-lines into the main yard. Landing amongst the containers, players must open them until they find the hidden vault, identifiable as a metal door on one side and a cooling system on the other. Only containers at the front of the yard and inside the warehouse can be opened and are thus eligible for the spawn. Only 2 players can use the initial zip-lines. If you do not desire for 2 players to wait, the others can drop down from the roof to an adjacent roof, then onto some shipping containers into the yard. Upon finding the vault, players must sabotage the cooling fans in order to overheat the temperature inside, forcing an emergency unlock. Finding a crowbar in the warehouse and inserting it into a fan will cause the thermostat (visible beneath the vents) to gradually rise; jamming additional vents will cause the temperature to climb faster, though only one is absolutely required. Once the vault finally unlocks, players will find three to four secure cases, containing a total of six to eight nuclear warheads (very heavy bags). These bags must be transported to the loot drop-off (and escape) around 350 meters away. Given that the trip is long, the route contains several enemies on foot, snipers amongst regular enemies on the stacks of shipping containers, several SWAT Van Turret spawns and about half a dozen cops on the bridge over the trainyard, vehicles may be helpful. Unlike some other heists, the vans with the turrets are capable of moving to block certain paths, potentially forcing heisters to take different routes while hauling the loot. Options include using the forklifts (which can carry up to 3 bags at a time) or the Longfellow muscle car (which can carry up to 4 bags and moves much faster) located towards the back of the warehouse. Since the car cannot be entered whilst carrying loot, and only four bags can fit in the trunk, either multiple vehicles or multiple trips will be required to secure all the required loot. Teams may wish to decide in advance whether to make multiple return trips with the Longfellow or make a single trip with the Longfellow and one or more forklifts. Note that while the player in the passenger seat of the Longfellow can still shoot (by "crouching", which results in the character leaning fully out of the window) it may be preferable to stop the vehicles and dismount to eliminate significant threats along the route to the train yard. This is particularly important if clearing the route for players in forklift trucks, which are slower and less agile. After securing the desired amount of loot, the players can board the train when ready to leave. Strategy * There are only two zip-lines at where the heisters begin. The others should provide covering fire and eliminate the Murkywater PMCs on the ground. * Remain in cover as much as possible, as there are a large number of sniper spawns, including on the upper gantries inside the warehouse. * Upon obtaining a crowbar, be sure to at least open the shipping crates containing loot before using them to jam the vault containing the nuke warheads. * The Longfellow can hold a maximum of 4 bags. Consider splitting up, 2 players securing the warheads while the other 2 remain behind to find more loot. ** Note bots will enter the vehicle even if a large distance away or without stopping. If playing with bots this can leave a player far behind without support, with potentially lethal consequences. ** Some players may even haul additional bags on the forklifts to save time (and to provide assistance while traveling to the escape point). * The SWAT Vans are capable of moving, primarily to block shortcuts for any heister driving a vehicle. * Note that you can be shot down while inside a vehicle. In such an instance you will be dropped from the vehicle immediately. ** Also if the vehicle is critically damaged (i.e. destroyed) everyone will be ejected from it. ** This can be very problematic when in front of a SWAT Van Turret. It can almost instantly destroy the condition of the Longfellow and rip apart exposed heisters. * Vehicles can insta-kill Shields by hitting them, even from the front. Even Bulldozers will die to a light bump from a forklift. Bringing special anti-Bulldozer weapons is not necessary for this reason. * The many red-and-white metal drums dotting the warehouse's yard can be shot to detonate, which can help with taking out sizable groups of enemies if timed correctly. * The gate leading towards the train yard will open when the vault is breached. * You can check the overheating progress by looking at the indicator, once it reaches 50°C the vault will open. * Each forklift can carry up to three bags and two people. To transport the bags one may throw them onto a forklift's forks or just drive one over them. * Enemies cannot grab loot bags when they are stored on a vehicle. Use this to prevent additional loot from being taken away by them. * Theoretically, it is possible to place an infinite amount of bags on the vehicle's exterior and carry all of them away in one go. In practice, the act is quite difficult due to the fact that any major bump will cause bags to fall off. The following is a list of potential positions where bags can be placed: ** For forklifts, bags can be placed inside the driver space, in the area between the driver space and the lift (most stable), and on the back of the forklift. ** For the Longfellow, bags can be placed on the front hood. Variations * The contents of the shipping containers vary: ** 1 shipping container will contain the vault. ** Most shipping containers will be empty aside from a few objects, allowing passage through the shipping container. ** Some shipping containers will be loaded with cargo, blocking off passage through the shipping container. ** Some shipping containers will be empty aside from a grenade case. This is much rarer than the above two and may occur multiple times or may not occur at all. ** 1 shipping container will contain a bulldozer together with a lootable shipping crate. * Lootable shipping crates spawn at random locations with different contents. * Crowbars are placed at random locations. 6 on normal-very hard, 4 on overkill and 3 on mayhem+ * 2 keycards on normal-very hard and 1 on Overkill will be placed on a random location in the warehouse. * The upper cages may hold assault rifles, money or gold, not requiring a crowbar to secure. Mayhem+ changes *Significantly more Murkywater PMCs at the start, and they keep spawning in groups of 10. *No keycards spawn. *Only 3 crowbar's spawn, making it impossible to open further loot-crates if all used on the vault. The FBI Files The warehouse beside the docks is registered to the Murkeywater Private Security company. We were alerted to an incident there by a phone call from a private citizen. It is unknown what the Payday gang were able to remove from the premises. Bugs *Having multiple people interact with the trunk together will open and close the truck on completion, this can cause the trunk to be inaccessible if used by multiple people simultaneously. Only have one person open the trunk at a time, or do not close it at all - the bags can only be removed by players interacting with them. *There is a synchronization bug for clients related to forklifts and bots. On clients systems, bots will not seem to use the rear of the forklift, and instead will stay in their original location, slowly and with sudden movements going towards their actual location (as seen by the host). **This is easiest to observe if a client drives a forklift to the train yard and gets incapacitated, but quickly gets revived by a bot that still appears to be hanging around at the warehouse courtyard. *Ramming the forklift into some surfaces, like walls, may prevent it from taking loot bags.. *Sometimes, when players accidentally entered the backseats of the Longfellow, they will not be able to exit the car unless shot down by cops (or other players with Mutators on). Achievements & Trophies Post-release achievements= |-|Trophies= Trophy-Longfellow.png| | Finish the Meltdown job within minutes, on OVERKILL difficulty or above.| Outside the Garage.}} |-|Tips= minutes, on OVERKILL difficulty or above.}} The best way to obtain the trophy is arguably the most straight-forward one: All crates are ignored and crowbars are jammed into the vault's vents immediately. One player takes a warhead-filled Longfellow to the train, two players take the remaining 4 warheads with forklifts, and a fourth player supporting the forklift drivers. |-|Trivia= *'Now is the Nuclear Winter of Our Discontent' is a reference to the play by , specifically its first line. *'Dr. Strangevlad' is a reference to the 1964 film . Trivia * Based on various unused sound files, this heist was apparently changed radically from its original version, and it would've been contracted by The Butcher.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh1MDXTyzEc **The original objective for this heist was a server with some files, but as there were multiple servers, you would have to carry them all back to the van. **Gage tried to do this heist on his own, but ended up being arrested, possibly the original explanation for his "extended vacation". *This is the second heist to include driving as a primary gameplay mechanic, though unlike Car Shop, this feature is completely optional. The crew can drive a muscle car (the "Longfellow", although there is an achievement for not doing so), as well as a number of forklift trucks. It would be possible, though time-consuming, risky and entirely unnecessary, to avoid driving completely and transport all the bags on foot. *According to Commissioner Garrett's files on the heist, the police and other law enforcement agencies are only alerted to the break-in when a pedestrian called 911 after hearing the sound of gunfire coming out of the warehouse. Were it not for that person, the Murkywater command will likely have covered up the raid to protect their own sinister secrets. *Vlad will sing Glory to Russia after the heisters have found the Container Vault. *Despite Vlad warning the crew to be careful with "his babushka" (the nukes) as they can "turn D.C. into molten glass", none of the warheads are actually primed for initiations, hence their seemingly inert reaction to being tossed, run over by a vehicle or shot at. **Because of their nature, nuclear warheads in reality are heavily reinforced and thus cannot be easily set off as Vlad's comment would have suggested, the Ukrainian probably said so either under the lack of knowledge on this subject matter or his overtly unstable and finicky psychology. Despite their durability, however, direct impacts from highly-powerful explosives may destabilize the containment mechanisms and/or cause a radiation leak in reality. ***Additionally, while nuclear initiations are indeed very powerful, the real damage from nukes comes from the radiation fallout that they release during an airburst, meaning that even on the off chance that they do initiate, only the immediate area will be destroyed and irradiated leaving pretty much the rest of Washington D.C. being relatively fine. **The nukes also emit radiation, as a Geiger counter can be heard crackling when the player nears a warhead case. The crackling ceases after all nukes are bagged though, indicating that the detectors are probably built into the transport cases themselves. **It is possible the crew could have received small dosages of radiation poisoning. In any event, Vlad will joke about it. *This heist sees the return of the Murkywater PMC. *There are several changes to the map layout compared to Shadow Raid, most notably in the warehouse, where routes to the roof, basement and docks are all blocked. **Entering the vault will cause Bain to comment on stealing the Samurai armour, suggesting the Payday Gang canonically managed to take it from Murkywater. *The poster for this heist is the first to include both Houston and all four of the original members of the Payday Gang, as they were in PAYDAY: The Heist. Wolf does not hold his signature JP36 this time around, nor any weapon for that matter, commandeering a forklift instead. **Bar Wolf, Houston is the only heister to wield a non-DLC weapon (a JP36), the rest of the crew all wield DLC firearms. Dallas can be seen holding a Peacemaker .45 (The Butcher's Western Pack), Chains has a Raven (Gage Shotgun Pack), and Hoxton has a Vulcan Minigun (The OVERKILL Pack). *The crates with warheads have Russian text "КОЕ-ЧТО" on them, which translates to "SOMETHING", literally. * This is the first heist that explicitly states the amount of loot available; After securing the required mission bags, a counter will show the amount of additional loot you have secured, and the amount present on the map. *A half-eaten cheese toast sandwich could be found on the map, with the phrase "LEAVE ME ALONE" written near it. After an update, said cheese toast sandwich was relocated to another position on the map, its original position has the phrase replaced with "I MOVED", while its new position has the phrase "OH GOD". * There is a chance to find a crowbar in one of the open lockers in the locker room. If it spawns, the phrase "Freeman was here" will be written next to it. This relates to the "Half-Life" series, where a crowbar was the iconic initial weapon of the protagonist, Gordon Freeman. *After opening the vault, Bain has a chance to say "Vlad, smashing malls is one thing. Stealing tiaras is one thing. But nukes!?". This is a reference to Mallcrasher and Ukrainian Job, both which were contracted by Vlad. **In Aftershock, Bain will sarcastically comment "Well, at least it's not nukes this time". *This is the first heist to include weather changes, in this case rain, and can only be seen at the beginning of the heist. This is purely cosmetic and doesn't affect gameplay at all. *When the alarm sounds, a large number of birds will scatter above the warehouse, possibly shocked by the alarm. *Interestingly, the security camera room from Shadow Raid is no longer present despite cameras still being seen around the warehouse. Rather, it has been converted into an ordinary office. It's possible the security station was moved off-site, learning from what the Payday gang did in Shadow Raid. *This heist has several similarities to The Merryweather heist from Grand Theft Auto V. Both heists involve the protagonists stealing a superweapon from a container located on a dockyard controlled by a goverment-funded criminalistic PMC. The protagonists also have no idea what they are stealing until the container is open. References Announcement site. Video ru:Ядерная угроза Category:PAYDAY 2 heists Category:Heists contracted by Vlad Category:Loud-Only Heists